The Wrong Idea
by Colored-Sand
Summary: Appearances can be deceitful. When people see the professor walking around with a woman and a young boy they tend to jump to conclusions. However, that is not so bad under certain circumstances…Slight character spoilers for the movie and prequel trilogy.


Author's Notes: This is a request for my friend Trinity, who is also known as DragonsAreFriends1. She asked me for Emmy and Layton fluff (well, not exactly fluff but I don't dare to write something outside of that at the time being). Don't worry, there are no actual spoilers. Just Emmy's existence.

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Three figures were leaning over a corner, trying to catch a glimpse of a mansion down the street. The tallest of the figures was that of a man who was wearing a tall silk hat. Next to him was a woman wearing a yellow coat; not the best choice for sleuthing, but hey, she liked that coat. The smallest figure belonged to a young boy wearing a blue cap. He was the only one who was successfully hiding well enough to not be seen.

The man spoke up: "If the information we got is right, then this should be the criminal's base of operations."

"But professor," the woman asked "why place a base of operations in a mansion?"

"I'm not sure…." The man adjusted his hat as he tried to come up with an explanation.

The boy squinted at the entrance of the mansion. There was a guard. "Maybe," he said "because nobody would think that a mansion would have a secret criminal base?"

"That does seem like a plausible explanation, Luke." The professor bit his lip. "We are going to need more information to confirm that, though."

"How are we going to get in, professor?" Luke whispered. "We can't just walk in…right?"

Hershel Layton frowned slightly. No, they couldn't just walk in. It would be too careless-

"There's only one way of finding out!" the woman suddenly walked over to the gate.

"Emmy!" Layton urgently hissed "No!"

Luke got up and followed suit.

"Luke?" Layton asked. "What-?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Layton reluctantly walked over to the boy and the woman. Surely, they were not expecting to be warmly received by the guard?

"Aww, how cute! It's the whole family!" the guard opened the gate. "Come on in! I was told about your arrival. Please make yourselves at home!"

Well, who would have thought?

"Sir," Layton touched the brim of his hat "you've got it all wrong. In truth-"

"No! Don't say another word!" the guard shook his head vigorously "The master told me that you would come! 'Very honored clients!' he said, 'Make sure to make them feel comfortable! The whole family will come!' Allow me to guide you in."

With that said, the three walked in the house. They were led to a quite spacious living room. The seats were made from fine leather and there were several paintings on the walls that seemed to come from a museum display. The guard excused himself and left the room.

"See? It was easy!" Emmy smiled at the professor.

"Emmy, I think that the man is confused," Layton pointed out "he was told that 'the whole family' would come. If the person who lives in this mansion truly knew us, then they wouldn't have described us as something we are not."

"So that means that we are taking someone else's place, professor?" Luke gasped.

"…Yes. I believe we are, my boy."

"And what can we do now? What if the real family comes?"

"We'll just have to play the part." Emmy concluded "That means that you will have to call me 'Mum', Luke. And you, professor, will have to call me 'Honey'. 'Honey' is a common endearment married people use, right?"

Luke was not pleased: "I don't even call Mum like that! …Well, I do but-"

"E-Emmy," the professor stuttered, quite flustered "let's not jump into conclusions! We first have to analyze the situation and-"

The door of the living room opened. A tall man with a smug look in his eyes entered the room. Upon seeing the professor, he grinned widely.

"Ah! Mr. Vimes!" he held out his hand "it's a pleasure to finally meet you in person!"

The professor returned the handshake. "The honor is mine, Mr-"

"Please, sit down!" the man interrupted, much to Layton's relief "I hope I haven't made you wait for long, have I?"

"Not at all, we just came."

"Excellent, excellent" the man nodded, as if agreeing to himself. "I know that we already talked about them in your letters, but…. Aren't you going to present me to your delightful family?"

"Yes, well…" Layton nodded to Emmy "That's my wife-"

"Ah! Ms. Jane Vimes!" the smug man kissed Emmy's hand delicately "you husband told me…quite a bit about you."

Emmy smiled as politely as she could "I hope that he hasn't been spreading unsavory rumors about me!"

"Not at all!" the man chuckled "your husband is…quite attached to you."

Emmy gave her best polite smile, wondering what the man meant.

Yes, well…" Layton tried to divert the man's attention from Emmy (why did it seem that he gawking at her?) "This is my son-"

"Billy! Been behaving well?" The man ruffled Luke's hair.

"Er, yes sir."

"Well then let's get straight to business, shall we, Mr. Vimes?" He then took out a manila folder and handed it to the professor. "Here's all the information you asked for."

Layton took the folder and glanced that the man "May I?"

"Of course! I apologize in advance for the –ah, rushed redaction of the information. It should be legible, but it's no work of art."

"Hmm, no: it's perfectly fine." The professor flipped through the documents in the folder. Its contents were… staggering to say the least. In fact, this evidence was more than enough to clear the case! The professor was no detective, but he knew that corporate espionage was illegal. "If you don't mind, I believe that we will leave now-"

"Leaving so soon?" a blond woman wearing a bright green dress entered the room. The professor noticed that she was smiling at him, but wasn't a snide nor a kind smile. It was more like a… coy smile? "I believe your _wife_ and your son wouldn't mind staying over for tea time?"

"Ah, Mr. Vimes," the smug man spoke up "this is my wife: Rebecca."

"It's a pleasure making your acquaintance" she held out her hand for the professor to kiss.

"Oh no, the pleasure is all mine." The professor kissed the woman's hand.

Emmy grabbed Layton's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I'll go fetch the tea." Rebecca turned to leave, "you entertain them, Derek"

"Wait, my love!" the man got up and turned to the professor "Excuse me; I have to make sure my wife doesn't burn down the kitchen."

"Go on," the professor said.

The man nodded and left the room while yelling "Rebecca, let the servants handle that!"

Emmy huffed, "I don't like that Rebecca one bit! Did you see her? She was flirting with you right before us! What an insult!"

"Yes! Talk about rude!" Luke eagerly agreed "How dare she invite us over for tea time! In fact, I wouldn't be surprised that she did that to talk to Dad!"

Emmy got up and dramatically turned her back on the professor "And you, _darling_, didn't seem to mind her flirting!"

Layton, seeing that they were most likely playing along with their identities, decided to follow along.

"I'm sorry my love." He said as he got up and walked over to Emmy. He had never gotten into this sort of argument before, but he tried his best to sound convincing. "I didn't notice her because you-er…your beauty blinded me beyond seeing anything else than you!"

"No! I know what you are thinking!" Emmy shook her hand deceptively "she's so young and beautiful! Of course you would forget our vows with her around!"

"No, Jane!" The professor grabbed Emmy's shoulders and looked at her in the eye "You will always be the one! I promise that!"

Emmy stuck up her nose "How can I know that you are not blabbing any nonsense?"

The professor took her chin and kindly made her head turn to him. "I promise you that this is real." He then pecked her lightly on the lips.

"Eww MUM, DAD!" Luke whined, his distaste a bit _too_ genuine "Not now!"

"Billy, be quiet," Emmy giggled as she hugged the professor and kissed him "Mummy and Daddy are busy."

"Oh, it seems that we came at an inappropriate time?" Rebecca was standing on the doorway. Behind her were her husband and a maid carrying a tea tray.

"No, not at all!" Emmy snickered at Rebecca and hugged the professor even tighter "In fact, you came at the perfect time."

"J-Jane, I can't breathe." Layton wheezed "Could you p-please let go?"

"I'm sorry, honey." Emmy suddenly let go of the professor, who almost fell down.

"Well…how about some tea?" The not-so-snobbish-now man suggested.

"No," Rebecca scowled at Emmy "Mr. Vimes said that he was busy. Remember?"

"But you were the one that suggested-"

Rebecca glared at her husband intensely. "You don't want to bother your clients a lot,_ dear_. Let them go."

After an awkward silence, the 'family' decided to leave as soon as possible the mansion. They were warmly told goodbye by the unassuming guard that let them in. Once they were a safe distance away from the mansion, Luke decided to break the silence.

"I thought that we were supposed to act!"

"But we did act!" Emmy said.

"No you didn't!" Luke protested "You two were kissing! In the lips!"

"Well, my boy," the professor fiddled with his hat "a true actor can feign anything and make it believable"

"Hmm …"Luke suspiciously looked at the two. "Alright, but why are you holding hands now?"

"That's none of your business_, second assistant_" Emmy teased.

"Second assistant?"

And so, Luke spent the rest of the walk to the police department ranting about how he was an _apprentice_ and that there was a vital difference between that and an assistant. Layton and Emmy just smiled and pretended to hear as they held hands all the way.

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And that's all! Feel free to: comment, criticize, flame, add to favorites, ignore, whatever suits your fancy, etc.


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